Davy Jones: Guardian of Adventure
by Sexualpeeling
Summary: Adventure is a thing all children are born with. Who knows more about adventure than Captain David Del Mar of the Spanish Navy?
1. Chapter 1

Davie Jones: Guardian of Adventure

The sea crashed and sputtered on the rocks below a makeshift gallows. An officer provided a grave rhythm on a snare.

_Da…da…dada dada…_

"David Del Mar," read the captain in a somber tone from a very long, very official document, "you have been brought before the honorable Judge Covas on the fifteenth of April of the year seventeen-twenty-one of our Lord." The poor man was on the verge of tears.

_Da…da…dada dada…_

David let out a soft, resigned sigh. This is what happens when bureaucrats take over what was once a perfectly respectable port city. Everything becomes taxable, red tape sprouts from the ground, the cost of living goes through the roof, and executions become utterly boring.

_Da…da…dada dada…_

He reflected on his twenty-seven years.

The earliest memory David had was of looking out the window of a cramped classroom and being slapped back to reality by a yardstick. Raised by nuns in a Spanish orphanage wasn't the _freest_ environment but there were two meals every day and loving motherly figures to nurture growth and prepare you for the working world.

David played well with his friends and played even better with new arrivals. He was by no means the oldest of the orphans but he always seemed to have a natural sense of leadership about him and an extraordinarily vibrant imagination, a quality he tried to share with his peers. Every day except Sunday the children were on crusades to the Jerusalem or street performers in France or swashbuckling privateers on the Spanish main, the endless possibilities of what he could do with his life were tirelessly pondered and wondered at by David.

He said goodbye to his family and left for a life on his own, a life that he was just completely positive he was prepared for. He was twelve at the time.

_Da…da…dada dada…_

The first few months as a street urchin were minor setbacks, a headwind only a little stronger than David had initially anticipated. Mother Superior had always taught her children to stay upbeat and confident no matter what. So great was his faith in his dear Mother's tutelage that he actually believed it. And not four months after he left the orphanage David gained employment from a salt-bitten old fisherman.

The old man lived with his old wife in a worn old sloop the couple had sunk their savings in early in their marriage. They'd witnessed David try to pickpocket a navy captain one delightfully sunny Tuesday afternoon. The captain seized the boy by his scraggly head, shouting curses as he did so, promising to personally see a cat o' nine tails lick his back when the old man scurried up, spewing apologies faster than you could bat an eye at, claiming he had lost track of his son-mischievous little devil, him-and after four or so minutes of constant apology and a substantial bribe, the captain let David go mumbling under his breath something foul about the working class.

_Da…da…dada dada…_

The old man took the boy straight home and unleashed a storm of poorly filleted tuna and olives on him. He introduced himself as Rivera and his wife as Señora Rivera and the three lived happily for many years.

The married couple had had two children, one in the powerful Spanish Navy and the other married in one of the many French farming villages. Rivera turned out to be an incredible influence on young David's intellectual growth, teaching him all sorts of things from tying knots and rigging to furthering his Christian education and shaving in his teen years.

David learned quickly that he did not care very much for shaving at all.

Sra. Rivera filled the void his family of nuns left. She believed right to her core that even the royal kitchen staff didn't know half of what she knew about cooking, a belief that David and Rivera did their very best to keep true to.

_Da…da…dada dada…_

He met a girl in the fish market while he was chasing around some children one day pretending he was a great monster. Her name was Eleadora. She had the softest raven hair you'd ever see and a brilliant smile that sold fish at twice their actual value. The two fell quickly in love and planned to get married after a year or so of courting.

Her father was a fine man, really he was, but he was very old fashioned and wouldn't give his daughter's hand to anyone without a generous dowry. So David made him swear he wouldn't marry her to anyone else until he came back from the Navy with enough money to satisfy him. Her father happily agreed.

"I see how happy you make my sweet Eleadora. And she'll wait for you too, I'm sure," he said, laughing. He playfully punched David's shoulder.

And so with much protest and eventual acceptance, Eleadora said goodbye to David.

_Da…da…dada dada…_

The drum continued to beat with perfect timing. The captain had swallowed his emotions and read on.

A young lieutenant arrogantly strode up to David, took a firm hold of the gold hoop on his ear, and pulled sharply downward. David let out an indignant howl of pain as blood dribbled on his long blue and crimson coat.

"There we go," the lieutenant said. "This ought to cover your burial." He looked David square in the eye and smirked.

The captain stopped reading and ran at his lieutenant in a fit of rage and struck him with the back of his hand. A backhand slap hurts the dealer as much as his target. The only reason the captain struck him so was for the message of shame he meant to convey to his inferior. This was not lost on David as he watched from his platform, gingerly prodding his ear.

"Have you been made aware, lieutenant, as to why this man," he motioned towards the convicted, "is being hanged today?" The lieutenant was speechless as he stared up from the ground at his red-faced superior. For fifteen seconds a tense and exciting silence filled the crowd as they watched this military exchange. The captain shook his head and stood up straight. He turned to the crowd and motioned again to David.

"This man you see before you is to be executed today. I have personally followed his career directly under him as first mate for eleven years." His legs grew shaky under him. He sat down on a stone step next to his lieutenant. "Pardon me. After joining our mighty Navy," here a few men from the crowd whooped, "his incredible brains and inventiveness gained him the title of Captain in under a year."

"We were charged with chaperoning a cargo ship from the African colonies. When he learned the cargo we were guarding was negro slave women and children, he immediately commanded we board the cargo ship and kill _no one_." The captain grinned with pride. "My captain bound the _merchants _in ropes and made way for the nearest German colony in the dead of night and set the slaves free, all the while comforting the women and using our translator let the children think it was some adventure game." He chuckled a bit. "I remember their giggles of delight before we guided them to safety. Then we set sail for the Caribbean where I suppose he thought he could rustle up a pirate crew?" He looked to David in question.

"I suppose."

The captain looked down and smirked. "Word got out before he could and now we're here."

The crowd began clapping. Not the slow, uncertain clapping you might see at two scorned friends reconciling, it was the quick and uproarious applause you'd welcome a hero back home to. Tears welled up in David's eyes. He looked away from the cheering crowd and towards the sea at the cliff below.

"Lieutenant, I want you in your quarters when I get back. I will consider you absent without leave if you're not and you will be punished accordingly. You will be stripped of your rank and given the worst detail I can think of, is that clear." It wasn't a question. The lieutenant scampered off.

The captain stood up and snatched the paper up from where he threw it. The drums started back up.

_Da…da…dada dada…_

"Are you ready sir?" he said to David.

"Is that a joke?" came the reply.

He looked at his paper. "Captain David Del Mar, you are charged with piracy on the open seas, kidnapping, embezzlement, robbery, desertion, and attempted jailbreak. You are to be hanged by the neck until dead." He looked towards the gallows. "Any last words, sir?"

David rubbed the noose around his neck with bound hands. "I wrote three letters and left them in my cell. See to it they're mailed, would you?"

"Yes, sir." The captain smiled at him with wet, half-lidded eyes and a quivering lip. He placed his hand on the release lever. "Farewell, Captain, and may God have mercy on my soul."

The drummer began a long, continuous drum roll.

David continued reflecting on his life.

The daring raid on the merchant ship. The Rivera's and their son he'd met once. How rugged and tough he looked! The nuns at the orphanage and the children he tried so hard to make them forget about their parents. All the knot tying and the make believing and bad food but most of all Eleadora. Always Eleadora above all else.

And then he thought how funny it is that so many things can go through your mind in your last five seconds.

The captain pulled the lever.

The drum roll stopped.


	2. Chapter 2

Davie Jones: Guardian of Adventure

Chapter One

The night air was a ghost of the heat present twelve hours before.

A disoriented Captain David Del Mar stood on tiptoe atop the gallows platform overhanging the cliff. He cautiously opened one eye and looked around. His other eye followed suit as he slowly raised a hand in a manner that he hoped conveyed the confusion he felt.

He was suddenly struck with a great sense of purpose and he looked up to face the moon which hung uncharacteristically close and vaguely threatening. It was as if it were trying to casually talk to David but he had his ears cut off.

"Speaking of which," he reached up and felt his ear. He was surprised to find that it was completely healed up albeit disfigured and numb.

He continued to stare at this moon-he wasn't entirely sure it was the one he was so accustomed to seeing at sea-and shrugged at it. "Uhm. Hello?" David felt a little silly talking to an inanimate celestial body as he continued with an indignant and slightly irritated, "_What_ do you want?"

After a good minute of gazing shiftily at the night sky he began to question what exactly was happening to him.

The nuns told stories about lost souls who weren't pure enough to get into heaven but were too righteous for hell. It always sounded like a terrible fate to him, to wander endlessly to the ends of the earth never experiencing the light and warmth of God. Maybe that was what David was now. Some doomed and stagnant spirit. Could he see other spirits like himself?

He looked around anxiously and saw worn stone steps, a tall gallows (here he rubbed his neck), the lukewarm comfort of the sea, and a great monolithic canopy where stood a well used stocks but no ghostly figures.

"It might not be so bad," he aimlessly thought aloud, mostly to pass time before he figured out what to do next. "Suppose I could help people in this lonely state." He looked up at the moon which seemed to be mouthlessly smiling approval.

"Ahoy, Captain!" came a silky smooth exclamation behind him.

David whirled around jumped back in fear at the sight of a three-mast man of war hovering impossibly over the cliff.

"I say, AHOOOOOOYYYYYY, Captain!"

David squinted up to the familiar figure waving at him from the helm. "Fuentes?" A mighty laugh erupted from the man, "Ricardo Fuentes! This is amazing! Throw me a rope, would you?!" he shouted.

Fuentes didn't move from his position at the helm. Instead another familiar crewman tossed down a rope ladder and David climbed up. He vaulted over the guardrail and was immediately tackled to the deck and was viciously embraced by an unrelenting hug-demon.

After wrestling his way back to his feet, David saw that the demon was his old hammock mate Pascual. The two enlisted together and ended up on the same ship, what luck! But within the first four months of their new military lives, Pascual cut his lower leg in the bilge and it got infected. The ship physician amputated below the knee but it was too late; the infection had spread. Poor Pascual was dead inside a week. But somehow we was back! _Even if he still has a peg leg_, David thought as he tried to discretely glance down.

He looked around at the crew that gathered excitedly around the Captain to discover that all twelve of the men were former seamen who served alongside him but all died from typhoid, dysentery, gangrene, drowning, or alcohol poisoning.

They all came back to life and were manning a floating ship twenty fathoms above the sea.

"Ahoy, fellas," the captain said in a shaky voice.

"Ahoy!" the crew threw back with deep chuckles and ecstatic shrieks of laughter.

"What do we do now, Captain?" Fuentes called from the helm.

David was charged with an delighted energy. He couldn't focus on an idea long enough to think it through, he was exhilarated with the entire situation.

"Has anyone checked out the ship yet?!" He didn't mean to yell but everything was so thrilling.

Like a crack of a whip the crew disappeared whooping and cheering to the powder room, the bilge, the crew's quarters, the helm, the crow's nest, everywhere in an electrocuted excitement as David smiled to himself as he went off to investigate with them.

The ship was two hundred feet long and fitted with seventy-six cannon, two at the bow, four at the stern, and thirty-five at each broadside that each fired what looked like perfectly spherical globes of water stacked in pyramids at every other gun. The crew's quarters was absolutely massive with six cloth of gold hammocks vertically lined up in ten rows, sixty beds in total. There were two lavatories marked either male or female which didn't make sense to the crew but didn't raise too many questions either.

And lastly, the Captain's quarters. Always located at the stern of the ship so it didn't rock up and down as much at in the bow, the Captain's quarters are where the captain would traditionally spend most of his time but not David Del Mar. While he abhorred piracy in his old life, he certainly could appreciate some of their values such as democratically electing which course of action they should take next and equal shares in stolen loot.

David always did his best to out work any individual crew member because that's just who he was.

And this new strange life would be no different.

He entered his new quarters and the first thing that struck him was the massive brass globe in the center. As he examined further, he noticed that there were tiny dots glowing primarily in areas he knew to be port cities and a small silver model ship roughly where the floating ship was at port. David suspected the ship on the globe would move when his new ship moved.

There was a large desk off to the side and various maps and sextants and compasses strewn thereabouts. He spotted a guitar propped against the stern most window and nodded in victory. Finally, a personal armory or four flintlock pistols, two blunderbusses, several dozen small knives, and two cutlasses, one made of Toledo steel and the other the same strange water material as the cannonballs.

"What a minute…" he mumbled as he inspected the guns. Half of them shot water. "That's fantastic!"

There was a large chest of gold ingots and pearl necklaces and silver cups and every type of precious wealth you could imagine spilling out to the floor next to a finely crafted cherry wood accordion inlaid with mother of pearl. A sizable wardrobe stood proudly three feet away from a hammock of the same material as his crew's. He opened up the wardrobe and giggled quietly at eight outfits identical to the one he was wearing, blue trousers, leather suspenders, a light beige shirt, and a blue and red overcoat. Two extra captain hats sat at the bottom next to two extra pairs of black leather boots and a harmonica.

He ran outside to find his crew waiting for him, each had some variation of the weapons David had strapped on his person and were shooting lightening quick balls of water at each others' faces and laughing.

"Men!" the captain yelled, swinging on some nearby rigging and grinning like a simpleton. "Yesterday we were dead!" Here the men whooped and laughed, proud to beat Death at the game of his own invention. "And I don't know about you but I could sure go for a drink!" His men cheered even louder at this. "But, uh…" David cut in, "let's try not to run. Look at us, we look like pirates." Everyone laughed.

So down the stairs walked the crew, making new friends and catching up with old ones and David's thoughts turned to his dear Eleadora. He could hardly wait to sail his enchanting new ship back to Spain and sweep her up in his powerful arms. Not before dumping the chest of money at her father's feet, though. They'd have a marriage on the ship and travel the world seeing things no other ship had ever seen before! The idea was tantalizing.

He gave himself a mischievous grin of satisfaction.

They stopped at the second pub they saw at Ricardo's request. He believed it was bad luck to take food and drink at the first bar or inn you saw. Everyone rolled their eyes but were in too high spirits to complain too much.

They loudly burst through the door surprising the four or five patrons. The entire band walked straight up to the bar and demanded thirteen pints of ale. The innkeeper was _not_ impressed. Didn't even look up.

One of the crew hands, Gomez David thought, piped up. "Pardon me. Thirteen pints _please_." The crew laughed.

Still the innkeeper cleaned his dirty glass with a dirtier rag.

"Oi, sir?" David tried putting his hand on the bartender's shoulder but it passed right through.

Half the crew gasped, the other half looked around, scared. The whole night just got a bit stranger. David desperately yelled at the bartender, frantically trying to slap his arm, ran around yelling at the other patrons. The crew handled the situation just as well.

They'd all lost their motivation twenty minutes later as they sat on the cobblestone outside. Dark clouds were brewing above their frustrated heads. David ordered them all back to the ship.

They sat around the mizzenmast and stood against the railing, looking out at the great sea. David felt cursed. Each one of them wordlessly thought about the implications of that had just happened. They were good men. Weren't they?

Half an hour passed.

"Sir," Pascual interrupted David's thoughts of Eleadora. He looked up. "Are we wandering spirits?" He looked back down. "Think about it, David, we all died. We have no memory of Heaven or Hell. We died and we just…ended up…_here_."

David looked up again at the moon where it peeked around the heavy clouds. It seemed to mockingly dance a waltz across his eyes.

"No. Yes? I don't know. I'm as lost as you all are." The men had begun listening to the conversation. A light mist of drizzle fell from the sky. Their captain stood up straight. "But you know what?" Silence. "I said do you know what?" He smiled a crooked smile.

"What?" someone asked.

"We got friends. We got friends we haven't seen healthy in a long time." Some of the men perked up a little. Other nodded, refusing to look up. "You know what else we got?"

"What else do we got?"

"We got a ship. We got a flying ship that can take us halfway around the world and back." They smiled a little at the thought. The drizzle stopped and the clouds began clearing up. "You know what else we got?"

"Wha-"

"I'll _tell _you what else we got! We got-and this is my little secret, don't tell anyone-," he winked and they laughed, "we got four dozen kegs of rum grog in the kitchen. So that's friends, a magic ship, and some watered down alcohol. I got an accordion and I think Pascual can play the guitar?"

"Aye aye, sir!"

"So! Official orders here, boys, let's light a few lanterns, crack open a few barrels, and have ourselves a little party on deck! That pub was too _tame_ for my tastes anyway!" The men cheered and a few ran to get lanterns and kegs. "Can I get a yo ho!"

"Yo ho!" answered the remaining crew. The skies were completely clear now.

David let out a howl and dived into his quarters to get his instruments.


	3. Chapter 3

Davy Jones: Guardian of Adventure

Chapter 2

There are a great deal of things weathered ol' sailors loved. Sailors liked to tell stories about their voyages and sea monsters they'd seen. Tales of escape from mighty storms and tales of escape from bar tabs with the help of that one extraordinary friend everyone seemed to have.

Sailors loved being out on the open sea. A salty wind blowing through their short hair and shaggy beards, that freedom unknown to anyone outside of a great oaken ship. Look west, the sea as far as the eye can see. Cast your eyes east and you'd see the same expanse of ocean. Oceans as far as the eye can see.

_Bliss._

But what weathered ol' sailors loved above all else was a little drink and a little music and a lot of friends.

David burst out of his quarters, accordion in his hands, to find his crew frantically prying at a keg of grog. As they laughed and punched each other, David couldn't help but smile. He'd been a captain for years and he could never relate to fellow captains who had such trouble with insubordination with their inferiors. People were just so…easy!

He gazed out at this ghostly band of shipmates, not a single one of them without a smile breaking their faces. People don't need much to be happy! Goodness! Look at these men, children really! David spotted one of them drop their tin cup onto the deck. One of his friends scooped it up and tossed it overboard. He tackled his offender to the ground and wrestled with him but there was no malice. The man dove into the drink to get his lost cup which conveniently hadn't sunk yet. The man he'd wrestled with threw down a rope ladder and hoisted the soaking heap of joy on deck. The two began fighting and David recognized a type of friendship that would last just like his and Ricardo's.

He smiled a little wider.

"Captaaaaaiiiiiin!" one of the crew hands, Abel, wailed. "The damned keg won't open!" he threw the pry bar aside in frustration. Another man who'd been watching him pick at the wooden barrel applied the bar in a way he thought would work.

"Well it's just as well, I suppose, you're all getting a little too fat anyway!" Half the crew laughed where the other half was too sore from absence of promised alcohol. "Hum, how's this?" David asked and began harping away at his new accordion a familiar sea shanty. You might have heard it yourself, planted firmly at the back of your mind by a wandering harmonica or a fish hag's melody.

The guitar danced out of the door to the Captain's quarters but no one looked twice at it. The instrument shimmied and jived its way to Pascual who yanked it out of the air and began strumming and twanging in time with his captain. The two shared a wink and the lid on the keg burst off and shot ten feet in the air. The crew cheered and began yelling a love song.

A good hour of constant dancing and singing later, everyone was _finally _beginning to feel the effects of the freshly opened keg of watered down rum. David finished his cup and made his way down the gangplank and off the ship into town.

He'd tried to make light of the mood in front of his crew (that's what a captain was _supposed _to do!) but he was…troubled to say the least.

That barman and his patrons weren't able to see him or his men. He wasn't naïve enough to believe Eleadora would be an exception. That'd be great if she was! But he couldn't get his hopes up even if he'd tried.

He walked down an empty road and passed the pub from earlier. It was closed now.

David looked up at the moon where it peeked between short stone buildings. He had no idea what he was supposed to do. His thoughts drifted to that enormous brass globe in his quarters and the lights on the port cities. The captain's brow furrowed and he tried to work things out.

He and his crew were wondering spirits…and he told the moon he might be able to help people…the brass globe with the lights near the coast…he was a sailor.

He was to help lost mortals find their way near the coast.

Was he a recruiter for different navies?

_That's completely absurd, _he thought to himself, making a note to reprimand himself when he got back to his ship.

David will use his newfound powers to guide people who need help.

_How will I know who'll need help when I see them? _

Something struck his head from behind.

He tumbled to the stone and, ever the military man, rolled sidelong to his feet and lunged sharply to his left drawing a knife as he searched frantically for the offender.

The man in question was on the ground himself, dressed in strange little white robes with a bow and quiver strung across his back. "By gosh!" the curious little said. His eyes bulged out of his head and his mouth gaped in an almost humorous manner. David couldn't figure out why he was so surprised but he shrugged it off and began walking away, his mind already wandering to how he could help people. "Wait!" his attacker yelled. It occurred to David that this strange robed man didn't pass right through him like the patrons at the pub did. David whipped around and got ready to fight.

The man had a bow after all.

"No wait!" The man, David could see now how beautiful he was, had his palms facing David in surrender. "No, see? Friend."

"Yeah, okay. Who are you?" A fair question. David didn't lower his knife quite yet.

"I should have passed right through you. You're a grown-up!" He looked down, hands still up. He looked back up again and cocked his head. "What's your opinion of Cupid?" David looked confused. The robed man laughed and continued, "Okay, here. I'm going to take my bow and arrows and put them on the ground. Okay? Okay." He moved to unsling his weapons. He gently placed them on the ground and held his hands back up. "Okay?"

"Yeah okay. What do you mean, 'Cupid?'" David asked. He hadn't put down his knife but he allowed himself to relax a bit.

"I mean, do you believe in Cupid? Do you believe in a funny little man who shoots arrows in his victims and makes them fall in love?"

A man stumbled down the road on his way home. The robed man didn't give him a second glance but David offered his shoulder to lean on. The stumbling man, of course, passed right through him. The robed man gasped and stepped toward David. "Who are you exactly?"

David stepped back and raised his knife again. "I'm Captain David Del Mar of the Spanish Royal Navy." The robed man stopped walking and crossed his arms, head cocked again. "Now who exactly are you?" David continued.

He uncrossed his arms, threw them to the heavens, and laughed. His laughter was infectious, David began giggling along. "Heh heh I'm Cupid!"

"Cupid."

"Yes, Cupid. Guardian of Love!"

"Guardian of Love."

"Yes! Yes indeed! Guardian of Love, that's who I am. Like…um ever hear of Nicholas St. North? Erm Santa Claus?"

"Nicholas St. North," David said blankly. "Santa Claus," he continued. He was making a lot of short statements.

He was losing his patience.

"Cupid" must have picked up on this because his hands raised up again. "Yes, Santa. Sorry, let me explain. I am Cupid. A Guardian of Childhood. A childhood concept of Love. The same way Nicholas St. North is the Guardian of Wonder. There are…" he waved his hands around, struggling with a concept he'd never had to put in words before, "_things…_all children are born with. And we protect these…_things_…that kids end up growing out of. But until then, we help them grow and flourish and learn about these things. Get it?" He grinned.

David understood the concept. There a lot of things he didn't get about what Cupid had proposed but he understood the concept.

"And you are one of us!" Cupid went on.

There was a long pause and it seemed Cupid lost half of his enthusiasm. His shoulders visibly slumped. "Okay, it's like this."

"Oh, I get it. What's, um, what's my aspect? Or."

"Yes! You get it! I have no idea what your center-it's called a center-I have no idea what your center is. You have to figure that out for yourself!" Cupid smiled.

"Alright," David said. He was frustrated. This was quite a lot to take in all at once but he recovered quickly and thought about it.

And thought about it.

When he was done with that, he thought about it some more.

He thought about it for so long that when he decided to look up from his contemplations, he was sitting upon the stone, thumb firmly pressed against his chin while Cupid floated on a puff of cloud a few feet off the ground, swinging his legs and looking up at the stars.

David looked back down.

"Okay, how about this," Cupid said. David made a note at how patient his new friend was. Cupid hopped down to his feet and the cloud dissipated. "Let me explain the nature of love to you!"

David smirked and looked away.

"Ugh, grow up!" Cupid quickly glanced around them. "Okay, come on." He grabbed David's hand and hoisted him-he was surprisingly strong for his lanky build-up to another cloud he was sitting on which presently darted off into the night.

The wind rushed passed the couple as they climbed up and over the city's mountain peak and back down the opposite side toward the slums. There were a few candlelit windows here and there in the flimsy looking shacks. Cupid squinted his eyes and pointed to one not far from where they were. The cloud slowed down and hid between the branches of a nearby coffee tree.

"Wh-" David was cut off as his friend's finger pressed to his lips. Cupid pointed out the silhouettes of a little boy and girl running about before stopping to eat some sweets they had. David had a sneaking suspicion they were stolen. He smiled to himself.

Giggling, they split the candies evenly between themselves and began scarfing them down. David noticed he was being watched closely by his companion but when he turned to face him, Cupid frowned and motioned furiously towards the children as if to say 'Here comes the best part!'

He looked back and noticed the candy was all gone. The little boy was still munching away, savoring a flavor he couldn't have gotten very often when the little girl planted a firm peck on his cheek before giggling and scurrying away.

The little boy was taken aback. He regained his composure with a shake of his head, showing a toothy grin, and chased after his friend into the night. The cloud took off back towards the port.

It stopped a good stone's throw from David's ship. The crew was still singing and dancing and apparently hadn't noticed their captain's absence.

The cloud disappeared and Cupid excited let out a feverish, "Well?" David raised an eyebrow. "What did you think?" he continued.

"I think it was an intimate moment shared between two friends. I don't think we should have seen it."

Cupid cocked his head. "I think you missed the point."

"Are you gonna tell me those kids were in love?"

"Well that much was obvious, wasn't it?" He jumped up and down. Cupid never seemed to get bad moods.

David thought about it. "I suppose so. Was that your doing?" he accused. "Seems awfully manipulative."

"That's the beauty of the whole thing!" he shrieked. The music quieted down a little on the ship. "I had _nothing _to do with it! Sure, I can make people fall in love with all sorts of things but love, _real _love…" He sighed. "…Can blossom anywhere. It just happens sometimes!" It occurred to David that he never saw Cupid draw one of his magical arrows to his bow. His crew's footsteps could be heard as they walked down the gangplank.

David couldn't help but smile a bit as he listened to Cupid's interpretation of love. The man simply loved love and it showed on his glowing face and whimsical gaze. He opened David's eyes to the possibilities of something he thought he understood with his time spent with Eleadora. He never believed in Cupid when he was alive mostly because he thought it was silly children stuff but also because he liked to believe that what he had with Eleadora was something that they worked alone, that there was no cosmic entity that could take credit for something they had.

David could admit to a certain dislike for Cupid mere minutes ago. He was prepared to argue his case, so ready was he to think that his new friend would take credit for David's relationship.

He felt a little ashamed thinking about.

David smacked his hand on Cupid's shoulder and let it rest there. "That's absolutely splendid, amigo." The two smiled even wider.

The crew had stopped and formed a semicircle around the two. Cupid's dress and strange weaponry won him a few amused looks. He gave the men a wink and smugly hopped up to sit on a cloud that had suddenly appeared. A few men gasped and stepped back and David let out a loud barking laugh.

"How would you like to set sail with us for a while?" he asked.

"I'd simply _love _to," came a playfully lazy response.


End file.
